If the conversation has indeed "moved past" Donald Trump, why are you still talking about him?

No one can completely dominate a three hour debate with ten candidates on the stage. Trump didn't need to dominate, as the front runner he only needed to "hold serve" which he did.  

More importantly for Trump is that he showed restraint and didn't rise to the bait like a rabid dog who only has "attack mode"  He made nice with both Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina while pushing Jeb Bush around like the political weakling that he is.

Yes his "We'll make America Great", "I'll build that wall", "Things will change", "You're head will spin"...heard that at the begining..It flew then, it works now..but after watching his town hall meeting today, from Rochester NH his answere weren't of substance, just pandering to the crowd and he still has that Birther mentality. If you saw the first question and there was one other about 10 minutes in, you'll see who his crowd is.My feeling is that he'll fizzle in the fall....he'll probably hold at 26%, which in this group might be enough.

-- Modified on 9/17/2015 7:26:35 PM

Trump is the head clown in the circus called the Republican Party..

As has been touched upon elsewhere on this board, Trump's biggest asset is that he is in many ways America personified. An overwhelming self confidence and belief that he is the best, and that the United States is in fact the best country on earth, coupled with an attitude that roughly approximates 'you're either with me, or you're against me'. This is where I'll no doubt cop some anti-US flak or whatever, but go ahead. You know the point I'm making.

He speaks to a larger number of the American population than I genuinely think the majority of us would like to believe. It would be a gross oversimplification to characterise the US as arrogant, but in lieu of a better description, allow me said oversimplification. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it is a sentiment that seems to permeate throughout the US that the US is better than any country you care to name, the land of hope and dreams, all of this stuff. I'm not here to debate whether that's the case or not (although statistics would suggest it isn't, that's not the point). He seems to have found a way to tap into that sentiment and become the embodiment of it. The personification of 'you're either with us, or you're against us'. If he hadn't at this point, any one of a number of gaffes he's already made would have sunk him. Clearly that hasn't happened yet.

Whether he wins the Republican nomination or not at this point is almost irrelevant; would it hurt him in any way to run as an independent? There's an argument to be made that it would in fact help him tremendously.

However, in the hypothetical future in which there is a President Trump, I can't envision him being an effective leader. I could be completely wrong, of course, but I don't see how he is qualified for the job in any way, shape or form; other than having the money to compete (which is not a qualification of value whatsoever). It appears all too often that his mouth is three or four steps ahead of his brain, which is a death sentence in politics. I wonder how he would actually deal with an issue such as the Iran deal - is he capable of negotiation, or does he intend to shout his opponent into submission?